Urban Legends
by JuliaBeth
Summary: When somneone from Munch's past threatens what he hold most dear, will he ba able to push his feelings aside and do the right thing. AU so if you don't like that, don't read it. And if you are going to tell me to refer to the SVUCC don't bother.


Author's Note: This story is AU. It takes place in 2002, and has a new character not in the series, hope you all like it and will review it. Also, I know nothing about Columbia University, except that it is New York, and a very good school, so I took liberties with it. I hope no one minds.

Disclaimer: SVU and its characters belong to Dick Wolfe. I'm just playing with them.

11:55pm  
Girl's Dormitory Five  
Columbia University

"So, Shanna, what are you up to tomorrow?" Tamora Price asked, slinging her arm across her slightly smaller friend's shoulders.

"Don't do that," she replied, pushing the other girl away, playfully. "People already think that we're a couple. Don't enforce their opinions or I'll never have another date."

"That's not why guys don't ask you out," the red head laughed.

"Don't remind me," Shanna sighed, leaning heavily against the dormitory wall. She was definitely buzzing after their night of clubbing. "Can I crash in you room tonight? I'm sure Kayla already has some Barney in our room."

"Well, Janet and Rich had some big fight today, and she's holed up in our room throwing herself a pity party, but if you don't mind the floor, or sharing with me, then sure."

Shanna laid her head against the wall. Janet whining or Kayla moaning and groaning.

She decided on the latter, as she came to her door. At least she could drown out Kayla with her radio.

Janet would expect her to listen and be sympathetic.

"I guess I'll take my chances with Kayla. I have a lunch date with my dad tomorrow. If he doesn't cancel again, then I'll catch up with you when I get back."

"Aight, girl. Night."

"Night." Shanna slipped in her room and locked the door behind her.

She reached for the light switch, but stopped when she heard her roommate's muffled groans. "Right, no lights."

She felt her way around to the side of her bed. She kicked off her shoes and wiggled out of her jeans, before crawling into bed. She slipped her headphones on and turned her radio up to drown out the sounds coming from the other side of the room, then relaxed and let sleep overtake her.

6:15 a.m.  
Girl's Dormitory Five

Columbia University

Shanna woke up the next morning to silence. She pulled her headphones off, cursing the fact that her batteries had gone dead.

She sat up and tried to adjust her eyes to the dim morning light.

"Hey, Kayla, pull the blinds," she said. "Kayla?"

She looked over at the other bed and her screams woke the entire dorm.

6:45 a.m.  
Station House

Detective John Munch walked into the office as his pager went off for the twelfth time that morning.

He picked it up off the desk where he had left it the night before.

911 paged twelve times from the same number.

He picked up the phone and dialed the number.

"Hi, this is Shanna, leave me a message."

She called him that many times in thirty minutes then turned her cell phone off? Unusual for her.

He called her dorm room, but still no answer.

He set the phone back on its hook, then headed back out.

He met his partner, Odafin Tutuola, in the hallway.

"Where are you running off to?" Fin asked.

"Check on Shoshanna."

"Why?"

"She paged 911 twelve times in half an hour, and then turned her phone off," he answered.

"So? Maybe she fixed the problem and went on to class," Fin suggested.

"Maybe," he replied, getting in the elevator. "But, the last time she paged me 911 and I didn't answer, it wasn't a problem she could fix by herself. Besides, it's Saturday, she doesn't have class today."  
**7:30  
Columbia University  
Girls' Dorm Five**

  
  
There were at least seven NYPD cars in front of the dorm building when they got there. 

Olivia and Elliot had just gotten there, as well.

"What's going on?" Fin asked them as Munch continued on into the building with barely an acknowledgment.

"A girl was raped and murdered in her room last night," Elliot said. "Cragen didn't call you in?"

"Nah, Shanna lives here. Munch said she paged him something like twelve times this morning then turned her phone off. He's worried about her."

Benson looked at her partner, "Please let her be the roommate."

They walked inside in silence.

"Detective Munch, Special Victims." John flashed his badge at the uniformed cop standing at the door. He pushed past him into the building.

Shanna was standing in front of a heavyset vice cop. Her whole body seemed to be shaking as she answered his questions.

"I've told you, I didn't hear anything, and I didn't see anything. I came in around midnight, put my head phones on and went to sleep. I didn't turn on the lights."

"Why not?"

"Because I…, she was…," she didn't finish her sentence.

"She was what? You have to say it or we cant use it," the Officer demanded.

"I know, I know," she replied, running her hands through her black curls, pulling on the ends.

A move he knew to mean she was getting frustrated and agitated.

He saved her from having to answer by stepping between her and the cop.

"Officer," he looked down at the man's nameplate. "Sorry, Sergeant Vincent, Detective John Munch, Special Victims. My partners and I will handle questioning the witnesses. Why don't you go see if you can find something useful to do?"

Vincent glared at him for a moment before stomping off.

He turned to Shanna, who threw her arms around him and gave into the tears that she had been forcing back while talking to Sergeant Vincent.

"Oh, Daddy, it's awful. Kayla…, murdered…, in our…, room…, should have…, turned on…, the lights. Didn't…, cause…, thought…, she was…  
having…, sex," she choked out between sobs.

"Okay, Sweetheart, calm down," he replied, stroking her hair, trying to comfort her. "Breathe. Come on. Deep breath."

By the time she had calmed down enough to talk understandably, Tutuola had joined them.

"Have you been in that room?" He asked.

Munch shook his head. "Bad?"

"Yeah."

"Shoshanna, honey, tell us what you know," he said.

She stepped back and wiped her eyes. "We, Tamora and I, came in around midnight, like a quarter till, and we talked by my door for a few minutes, then said goodnight. I went in my room and it was dark and I could hear Kayla. I thought she was…, you know, having sex. I mean, that's what it sounded like and she was always sneaking guys into our room. I didn't want to see her, so I didn't turn on the lights. I should have. Kayla'd still be alive," she ran her hands through her hair again. "Anyway, I got in bed and put my headphones on with my radio turned way up loud so I wouldn't hear her. When I woke up this morning, it was off. I was going to look for some more batteries to put in it and I asked Kayla to pull the blinds. She's always up at like, four or five. She's an insomniac or something. She didn't answer, so I looked over to see if she was still sleeping, and…," she started crying again.

John pulled her to him and kissed her forehead.

"She started screaming," Tamora spoke up. "Woke everybody up. Janet and me came running down her to see what was wrong and well…, Janet went to get the R. A. and I called the police. Shanna tried calling you, but after they got here, that guy told her not to."

"That guy, Vincent," Shanna supplied. "He recognized my name, and told me to turn off my phone. He said they would call the panty police when they thought they needed them."

"He told you that?" Fin asked, incredulously.

She nodded.

"Here, Sweetheart, go put some clothes on. You'll need to come to the stationhouse and give a formal statement." Munch had a sudden desire to speak to Sergeant Vincent again.

"Come on, girl, I'm sure I have something you can borrow," Tamora said, pulling on her arm, gently. "That way you don't have to go back in there."

"My glasses," she replied. "I need them."

"I'll get them," he assured her. "Just go get dressed."

"Okay." She let herself be lead in the other direction.

9:00 a.m.  
Special Victim's Unit  
Stationhouse

"Do you know anyone who would want to hurt Kayla?" Olivia asked Shanna.

"No. We weren't really that close of friends. I mean, we got along and all, but we ran in different circles. We didn't really talk about anything except school and cleaning duties. Never really got very personal with each other. I didn't know her friends and she didn't know mine, excluding those who lived in our building."

"So, you have no idea who she was with last night?"

She shook her head. "She sometimes picked up guys on the Internet. She also had a quasi-boyfriend. Rick Butler. He's a student at NYU. I met him a couple of times." She left out the 'in the mornings' part.

"Quasi-boyfriend?" Elliot questioned.

"Yeah, they went out together, but they weren't exclusive. She had other guys and I'm sure he has other girls. But, I don't think she was with him last night. He has a motorcycle that he parks right outside the building and it wasn't there. So, I really don't know who the guy she was with last night was."

"Hold on," Munch interrupted, his mind shift from the crime to what Shanna had just admitted about herself. "You mean to tell me that you often go to sleep with some guy you don't know from Adam in that room with you? Have I taught you nothing?"

"You've taught me a lot," she replied, turning towards him with an annoyed look on her face. "I don't go home with guys I don't know. I don't drink anything I have opened myself. I never leave my drink unattended, and I don't walk down dark alleys at night in rock my world pumps and miniskirts. I listen to everything you tell me. However, I didn't get to pick my roommate or her boyfriends. But, for your information, I don't usually stay in that room if she has a guy in there. Usually, I stay in Tamora's room, but last night, Janet had a fight with her boyfriend and I didn't want to hear her whining. I'm not stupid, Dad."

Munch held up his hands in surrender, "I didn't say you were. Anything else you can tell us? Any other friends' names?"

"She was a theater major. All those guys hang out together. They would know more than me. She was going to be a film maker."

"You said she picked up guys on the Internet. Did you she use the computer in your room?" Olivia asked.

"On the desk? No, that's mine. She had a laptop."

"All right, I think we have enough for now," Elliot announced.

"Come on, Sweetheart, I'll take you home." Munch stood up and reached out to her.

"I don't have to go back to the dorm, do I?" She asked, slipping her hand into his.

"No, of course not," he replied. "Last time I looked you still had a room at my place. I'll give you some money and you can call and annoy every take-out guy in a twenty mile radius."

"Cool." She laid her head against his arm as they walked out.

When they got to his apartment building, he walked her up, since she didn't have her keys.

"Listen, Honey, I sorry I jumped on you at the station, it just you are very important to me. What if that guy last night hadn't been satisfied with just killing your roommate? I don't ever want to have to identify your body at the morgue, or chase some guy down because he hurt you. You understand?"

"Yeah, Daddy, I know," she replied. "I love you, too."

He smiled at her and hugged her. "I always knew you were a smart kid." He handed her a couple of bills. "Here, have fun. Be sure you lock the door and check out everybody before you let them in okay?"

"Sure, why?" She shrugged.

"Just to be safe."

"Okay, Daddy. See you tonight. She kissed his cheek. "Be careful."

"Always," he replied, as he left.

10:00 a.m.

Squad Room

Special Victim's Unit

"You know what I don't get?" Stabler asked. "The message on the wall. 'Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the lights?' If he went to that trouble, why didn't he just hurt Shanna too?"

"He just wanted to scare her," Fin answered. "Haven't you ever heard this story? A college girl rooms with a more promiscuous girl who often brings guys up to their room. One night she walks in, hears her roommate getting busy, so she goes to bed without turning on the light. She wakes up the next morning, her roommate is dead and that's written on the wall. I heard it when I was kid, way before I was even thinking about college."

"I guess it just went from Urban Legend to fact," Olivia stated. "El, let's go talk to Mr. Rick Butler. Maybe he just didn't have his motorcycle with him last night."

"When Munch gets back, we'll go get that laptop," Fin volunteered.

Columbia University

Girls' Dorm Five

"Shanna is from marriage number three?" Fin asked as they walked into the room.

"Number two. Number three only lasted four months."

"What happened?"

"She didn't like my hours, my rapier wit grew thin on her and the allure of being with a cop wore off," he answered.

"Been there. You see a laptop?"

"Check the briefcase at the foot of the bed." Munch picked up a picture on Shanna's desk.

Fin picked up the case and made sure that it was the computer. Then he looked over Munch's shoulder. It was a picture of him and Shanna on her graduation day. She had her diploma in her hands and million dollar on her face. Even John was smiling, a real smile, not that smart-ass smirk he usually wore.

"What are you thinking?"

"Shoshanna was two years old when I started in homicide in Baltimore. My training officer told me that the day I brought her into my work would be the day she'd get me back in a body bag or I'd get to pull her out of a dumpster. So, I tried to keep her out of my job. I never talked about her much at the station, never kept pictures of her on my desk. I never got pulled into answering when a perp would ask me if I had kids, and now, after all I did, thinking it was keeping her safe, this bastard stood in this room with my baby. Less than ten feet from her. He could have killed her just as easily as he did the other girl."

"You can't be thinking like that, man. All you, or any of us, can do is catch this bastard so he can't do it again."

"You're right. Let's get out of here." He set the picture down and walked out.

Student Quad

New York University

Benson and Stabler walked across the grassy common area, towards a guy in a black leather jacket in the center of a group a students.

"Rick Butler?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, that's me," he replied, turning around to see their badges in his face. "Whoa."

"I'm Det. Benson, my partner is Det. Stabler. Can we have a word?"

"Sure." He led them away from his friends. "What's going on?"

"Where were you last night?" Elliot asked.

"Here. Party at the KA house."

"From when to when?"

"About eight until an hour or so ago. I'm a brother. I live there."

"Anyone see you there?"

"Yeah, lots of people. All those guys over there, Nathan, my roommate, plus half the people on campus. What is this about?"

"Kayla Mills was murder last night," Stabler answered.

"No, she can't…," he covered his face with his hands. "I just talked to her yesterday. I told her not to mess with that guy anymore. She said…, she said I was just jealous."

"What guy?"

"I don't know his name. I mean we have an open relationship, but we keep names to ourselves," Rick replied. "She did tell me he was older. A lot older, like middle-aged, and…," he faded off.

"And what?" Olivia pushed.

"And…, well, he'd slapped her a couple of times, and you know…, he liked to get rough in bed, tie her up and stuff."

"Anything else you can tell us?"

"Yeah, there was one thing that really bothered her. She said he was really interested in her roommate. Like enough to make her jealous and he'd never even met Shanna."

"Thanks. You've been a big help," Olivia patted him on the arm.

"Yeah, sure, just get this guy," Rick answered.

"We will," Elliot assured him before letting him go back to his friend.

"So, the Vic's older boyfriend was interested in Shanna? Why?" Olivia wondered aloud.

"What was Fin said about the writing on the wall? It was meant to scare Shanna. Maybe we're looking at the wrong girl's enemies," Elliot suggested.

Squad Room

Special Victim's Unit

"Well, Rick Butler's alibi checked out," Olivia stated as they walked into the room. "He was at a fraternity party all night."

"He also said she was in a relationship with an older male, abusive, and get this, the guy was interested in Shanna," Elliot filled in.

"Interested how?" Munch asked looking up form the phone records he was going over.

"Wanting to date her, maybe?" Elliot guessed. "Butler said the vic was almost jealous of the guy's interest in Shanna, but that he'd never met her."

"She's safe at your place, right?" Olivia asked.

"Trust me, his place is locked up tighter than a bank vault," Fin cracked.

"Hey, at least it's safe," John shot back. "These are their dorm room phone's records. How am I supposed to know who made what call?"

"That's why I gave them to you. I thought you might know at least a few of the people your daughter calls."

"Spoken like a man who doesn't have a twenty year old daughter," John replied. "When your daughter's ten, you know everyone of her friends. When's she fifteen, you know most of them. When she's twenty, you're lucky if you know half of her friends."

"No calls on there stand out?" Cragen asked.

"Four call yesterday, all to the same number, two after Shanna and Tamora hade left."

"To who?"

"Doesn't say."

"Give it here. I'll run it through the computer and see if I can get us a name and number to go with that number," Olivia volunteered.

"John Munch?" A delivery man walked in to the squad room.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Package for you," he replied. "Sign here."

John signed for and took the package. "No return address. I'm not sure I want to open this. What if it has anthrax in it?"

"Well, you've already had it five times this year. Once more can't hurt," El joked.

"You're concern overwhelms me." He slit the package open and emptied it out on his desk. "A video tape. Why would someone send me a videotape?"

"Let's watch and find out," Fin suggested.

The four detectives walked down to the electronics room. 

John put the tape in a player and turned it on.

The first few images were blurry and bounced around a lot.

Somebody needs to take video photography lessons," John cracked.

The next images were perfectly clear and halted any further comments from John or anyone else.

It was Shanna leaving her dorm, walking into class, sitting on the steps of another building with some friends.

"She's beautiful, Munch." A low scratchy voice came over the silence of the video. "Shoshanna Mariasha Munch. I must say you made her hard to find, John. But not for someone who know you as well as I do."

More pictures flashed across the screen. Shoshanna in various activities from playing soccer to dancing at a party.

The last scene was of her sleeping peacefully in her bed, headphones over her ears.

Then the voice spoke again. "Look at her, John. I certainly have been. I'll bet you're wondering why I didn't just do her last night when I was standing over her. I want you to know what is happening to your little girl. I want you to know exactly what it feels like to know your daughter is in danger and you are powerless to help her. You failed to protect my daughter from her attacker. Now, you'll fail to save yours."

"Son of a bitch! He was after Shanna the whole time. I've got to get to her before he does." John tore out of the room.

Fin followed him without a word.

Benson and Stabler went to inform Cragen.

He listened to their story, and then said, "Call Munch. Tell them when they get Shanna; we'll put her in a safe house until this perp is caught."


End file.
